Observe and Report (2009) - Hill's hilarious dark comedy leaves good taste in the gutter

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+ Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Dark Comedy of the Year

 

Two questionable mall cops pose like idiots on this poster for Jody Hill's Observe and Report

Ronnie is a mall cop, and it is a job that he carries out with what is perhaps a somewhat exaggerated sense of responsibility. His mother drinks; his flame Brandi from cosmetics is uninterested in him; but then Ronnie gains a much-wanted enemy - in the guise of a chubby flasher.

Observe and Report is written and directed by Jody Hill (The Foot Fist Way (2006)).

Hill and co-star and protagonist Seth Rogen's (Steve Jobs (2015)) dark, transgressive male-centric, crude humor lies heavily over Observe and Report, as it relies on laughing at (and not with) its team of dumb loser characters.

But the film is also a ton of laughs, especially in the most absurd scenes, SPOILER as when Ronnie shoots the flasher.

 

Related post:

 

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

Watch a 22-second clip from the film here

 

Cost: 18 mil. $

Box office: 26.9 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.49 times its cost)

[Observe and Report premiered 16 March (South by Southwest Film Festival, Austin, Texas) and runs 86 minutes. Shooting took place from April - June 2008 in New Mexico. It opened #4, behind fellow new release Hannah Montana: The Movie and holdover hits Fast & Furious and Monsters vs. Aliens, to an 11 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd weekend and grossed 24 mil. $ (89.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1 mil. $ (3.7 %) and Australia with 912k $ (3.4 %). Hill returned with a short and 2 TV credits prior to his theatrical return, The Legacy of a Whitehall Deer Hunter (2018, VoD). Rogen returned in Family Guy (2009, TV-series) and theatrically in Funny People (2009); Michael Peña (The Mule (2018)) in My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done (2009). Observe and Report is rotten at 51 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Observe and Report?

Meeting Spencer (2010) - Mowbray's flawed New York showbiz satire

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Jeffrey Tambor's head serves as the olive in the Martini on the poster for Malcolm Mowbray's Meeting Spencer

 

A prominent New York theater director returns home after a blunder in Hollywood for a meeting with a young actor and others at a steakhouse in the city to discuss the funding for his next play.

 

Jeffrey Tambor (Transparent (2014-16)) is wonderful and really inhabits his part here. Jesse Plemons (Black Mass (2015)) is charming and well-acting, but Melinda McGraw's (Hank (2009-10)) performance suffers from a somewhat theatrical overacting. The concept of fitting the whole film into one evening in a steakhouse and the exaggerations of the ending don't make the theatrical bitaste of Meeting Spencer any smaller. The film also has continuity and sound issues.

Meeting Spencer is written by Scott Kasdin (Sweet Lorraine (2015)), Andrew Kole and Andrew Delaplaine (Life's a Drag (When You're a Man in a Dress) (2009)) and directed by Malcolm Mowbray (The Boyfriend School (1990)), his last film to date. It's got smart dialog and the kind of fun that's especially appealing to theater and showbiz-lovers.

Here's a trailer for Mowbray's Don't Tell Her It's Me/The Boyfriend School (1990)

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown

= Unknown (but likely a huge flop)

[Meeting Spencer's 2010 release date isn't reported. It runs 88 minutes. Details about its production and release are scarce to say the least. It is produced by George G. Braunstein Productions as its only credit. The film played at the Milano International Film Festival, where it won two awards and was nominated for three more. Concealing all the details must, I suspect, point to the film's being a huge flop if not worse. Meeting Spencer is rotten at 33 % with a 4.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Meeting Spencer?